So lets start with everything that not related to the uni course :)
Partying
Everyone always said when living away at uni, partying is a big part of your life.. well it really is. I love the fact I can go out into town during the week and clubs will be just as lively as they are at the weekend. Personally, I'm not a big drinker or partier but sometimes you do have to let your hair down and have a good time, but also, I don't do it that often. In addition, now being a trainee teacher, I have a certain image I must uphold of professionalism and decorum. In that sense, I have been told that when I go into a school to have a placement or become a qualified teacher, both the children and teacher will google me. So I have been googling myself to see what sites or photo's appear and nothing too bad comes up; therefore, nearing the end of my degree I will have to look into closing down this blog :'( but its all for the good of my future.
Sport
If you follow me on twitter you will have noticed that I am now a member of the Edge Hill cheerleading team which is a great source of exercise. This is another thing I am having to fit into my schedule which currently isn't as full as it will be after Christmas. I am partaking in cheerleading on a Thursday evening 6pm-7pm which is Edge Hill's display team; this is the competitive team.. Although I did attend a rehearsal for that and it was VERY intense and as I hadn't done gymnastics in a while I thought it would be better to stick to the display team this year which will attend football and basketball games.. Things like that. I've never really been a big sports person but since coming to uni I've wanted to try things I wouldn't regularly try because uni is a new experience in general and the more I can get involved with the better!
Weekly Tasks
There are honestly quite a few tasks you have to partake in weekly such as shopping and being social with flatmates and people on your course. Shopping is a necessity to think about and I'd recommend setting a day when you do go shopping; personally, I don't go into Ormskirk to go to Morrisons, Iceland and B&M every week as there is a decent shop on campus that I can get weekly essentials such as bread and milk, however I do set the time aside to go to the campus shop. I never thought about these until I got here and how often my mum has to go to the shops to stock up on food that in the fridge or cupboard. The social aspect of uni is something you have to keep up with to as you need to get your own new group of friends; myself, have made friends with people in my cluster flat and people on other floors in my halls as these are those I will be around for the next year.
Oooh.. Something I nearly forget.. Calling family and friends! This is a bigggg requirement when your at uni because you need to not lose contact with your friends back home so I've been calling my best friend who's also at uni a lot and skyping my family regularly.. You need to make time for this!
So my uni course; Primary Education with QTS
Timetable
Currently, my timetable is brilliant! Mondays are quite tiring though but I can cope because the rest of the week is pretty relaxed. If your wanting to know more about my Mondays; well my first lecture is at 8am (I am so glad I live on campus) and my last seminar finishes at 6pm.. A looooong day! Although it only equals 7 hours worth of lectures which is only one hour more than a regular school day. Thankfully, after Monday I have Tuesdays off which is handy because Kitty, my flatmate, also has Tuesdays off so we normally just laze around or head into Ormskirk for the day.. Wednesday and Thursdays are similar as they both start at 2pm which gives me a fantastic lay in. In addition, I also have Fridays off which is extremely helpful for me because if I'm wanting to go home for the weekend it means I have all day to do it as I face a 4 hour train journey back to Doncaster.
Observing snails in Science - yes my course is soooo much fun!
Directed Reading and Tasks
Primary Education is a quite an intense course and requires a lot of work out of lecture and seminar time.. even this little into the course. To help you understand how much reading I have to do I normal have a chapter in one or two books or journals to do before the next session.. and I currently have six different lessons. However, an ongoing task which will be throughout the semesters (love that word) is to keep a reflective journal in each of my lessons to develop as a teacher myself. This is a tiresome and frankly.. annoying task but it has to be done and I am determined to do it well.. My English journal requires me to put in inspiration for a children's book I am required to complete at the end of the year. That means I have to be creative and I want that to be good! I will hopefully post photos of it either on facebook or twitter or hopefully on here nearer to the finishing and handing in time of it.
First Exemplar Visit
Being in a school again was great! That feeling of helping out the children in simple everyday tasks was brilliant and really reminded me why I am doing this course and where it will lead me in 3 years time. As a means of confidentiality I will not disclose the name of the school I went to for my visit but I will comment on it anonymously. The school my tutor group visited was in the outskirts of Liverpool and was a junior school which was a new thing for my as I've always worked within Primary schools where all years were in one building. This was an outstanding school and was truly demonstrated while I was there why it has been rated that by Ofsted. I spent my morning in year five and the afternoon with year three; both of which were a pleasure to be with but at the same time I did feel like I was treated like a teaching assistant and not a newly trainee teacher. However, I know can't wait for my next exemplar visit (in November) and my preliminary placement (2 weeks in November) all before the big six week placement in January. I always learn best from experience within schools so I am glad that my course is fully packed with as much experience as possible; unlike some other universities I'd seen.
Feel free to message me with any queries about Edge Hill University or Primary Education in general
Thanks for sticking around readers!
J
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